In a bit of chilling news for Marvel Entertainment stockholders, industry analyst Mike Hickey of Janco Parters offered up the following assessment this week regarding the impact of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV videogame release on ticket sales for the Iron Man feature film:

We anticipate the video game release of GTA IV on April 29 could dampen the potential from Iron Man’s theatrical release on May 2.

In a story reported by Next-Gen.biz, Hollywood executives are citing last year’s release of the videogame Halo 3 as a major factor in poor ticket sales for September 2007 and fear the same thing will happen when the virtual crime spree of Grand Theft Auto IV hits shelves. However, as many have pointed out, the quality of the month’s films could also be blamed (for reference, see Good Luck Chuck and Mr. Woodcock).

Hickey went on to state:

The last significant video game release, Halo 3, generated over $300 million in sales from its first week in the market. Halo 3 was released on just one platform, the Xbox 360, and attached nearly 50 percent of the installed base. GTA IV will be released on both the Xbox 360 and PS3, which have both significantly increased their installed bases since the release of Halo 3.  A GTA IV 25 percent attach rate to a combined Xbox 360 and PS3 installed base at its April 29 release would imply 5.8 million units sold or roughly $360 million in retail sales the first week of the game’s release.

ComicMix would like to point out the best-selling game of 2007 was Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat. It was released in December and movie box office sales were just fine that month. If the buzz and reviews for the Iron Man movie are good, we’ll stop playing games, steal a car and go see the film.

Previously, I brought you the first pic and an interview about the upcoming direct-to-DVD sequel to one of the cult-favorite films of the ’80s: The Lost Boys. And now over at MTV, they’ve released the exclusive new trailer for the sequel, known as Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, for your viewing pleasure.

And as if that wasn’t enough, along with the trailer they’ve also got an interview with Edgar Frog himself, Corey Feldman, where he discusses, among other things, the new film’s story, its characters and how the sequel fits in with the original timeline. He also talks about how his character has evolved since the first film and how important it was for the sequel to stay true to the original and not disappoint hardcore fans.

Finally, he reveals that Corey Haim is, in fact, in the new movie and talks a bit about their strained relationship. The trailer itself features what you would expect from a movie like this: action, motorcycles, attractive young people in danger, blood, gore and vampires, vampires, vampires. Surprisingly, after watching it a couple times, the movie doesn’t seem as cheesy as I thought it would. In fact, it looks pretty good.

Lost Boys 2: The Tribe hits DVD store shelves in July.

One of DC Comics’ preeminent colorists, Jerry Serpe, passed away Monday. A colorist and color separator since the end of World War II, Jerry had primary responsibility for overseeing the interior color for DC’s entire line during the 1950s and 1960s. He later went freelance, continuing to color virtually every character and every feature DC published for more than 30 years.  

Updating a pair of previous stories, developments in the rip-off scandal involving cartoonist Jess Fink and the Hot Topic clothing store seem to have moved in a satisfying direction for the artist, and the fundraising efforts for Rachel Nabors’ dental surgery are also on a positive trend.

From Fink’s website:

The person who wrote me back was the lady who originally bought the shirts from the rip off artist/designer "NewBreedGirl" she had some very nice, apologetic words to say and she told me Hot Topic would like to make amends by removing the shirt from their website, and no longer selling it in their stores.

She said:

"I would like to first and foremost, appologize for this situation. It is very important to us to support artists and their ventures and it just makes my stomach turn when something like this happens. We in NO way would have written this artwork if we had known it was someone else’s design. We work with many vendors that sell us "generic" artwork and we put our faith in those vendors to not sell us stolen or immulated artwork."

Also from what she said I have a feeling no one is going to be buying anything from "NewBreedGirl" for a long time.

Rachel Nabors also seems to be doing well:

It’s official. We’ve raised at least $5,000 toward my jaw surgery! Let’s see, that either covers the braces or half of the surgery (provided it doesn’t involve widening the roof of my mouth). Last I checked tonight, we were at $5,588.04 USD.

(via TheBeat)

Born in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum, Perry White’s first job was copy boy at the Daily Planet, a job that interested him in the newspaper journalism that would soon become his life.

Perry was already a well-respected reporter for the paper, having returned after stints in Chicago and Gotham City, when the Daily Planet’s owner, Lex Luthor, decided to get rid of the paper. Perry found an investor who was willing to save the Planet on the condition that Perry become editor. Though reluctant to give up writing, Perry agreed.

Since then, except for brief stints for personal or professional reasons, Perry has remained the Daily Planet’s Editor-in-Chief. Though he won a Pulitzer himself years ago, for his exclusive interview with Superboy, Perry’s greatest achievement may be his two finest hires: a pushy girl named Lois Lane and a mild-mannered Midwesterner named Clark Kent.

Happy Birthday, Chief!